A Conversational Shopping Assistant for Online Virtual Stores

Tiago Fornelos, Pedro Valente, Rafael Ferreira, Diogo Tavares, Diogo Silva, David Semedo, João Magalhães, Nuno Correia

Abstract: The online shopping industry benefits from the usage of virtual assistants that are able to provide a 24/7 way of communication. This is normally done through the use of text based interactions. In order to improve the user experience and provide a more engaging user-to-customer interaction, we present a virtual shopping environment that emulates the physical store, providing the user with an experience similar to buying products in the actual store. This allows users to interact with the store items and have a full conversation with a virtual shopping assistant. This is all done through a virtual store where the user is able to walk, try-on and see the displayed items, while having a conversation with the store's assistant.